


variations on a tune

by MagicalSpaceDragon



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Music, Post-Transformers: Lost Light 25
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 06:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21503098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalSpaceDragon/pseuds/MagicalSpaceDragon
Summary: In which some of Megatron's poetry was meant to be heard, not read.
Relationships: Megatron & Rodimus
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39





	variations on a tune

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot for the LIFE of me remember what the conversation that inspired this was actually about. Whoops.

"That song," Megatron says abruptly.

Rodimus's voice falters and goes silent. When Megatron looks up, the mech is glaring at him. "You got a problem with it?"

He'd been struggling to place it. Something old and familiar and inexplicably sad that Rodimus was singing under his breath as he flitted around the bridge, occasionally humming as though he didn't know all the words. He'd finally wandered close enough for Megatron to make out the lyrics, and with a jolt, he'd—remembered.

"Hardly," he says, because that much is true.

_"Hmph."_ Rodimus keeps glaring, arms folded defensively as though he's waiting for the trick, but Megatron can't seem to bring himself to offer an explanation. "So _what,_ then?"

"I recognized it," he manages finally, voice even and unaffected. "Nothing more."

Rodimus makes a dismissive hand gesture as he turns away. "Whatever."

He never finishes the song, and Megatron cannot help but feel bereft.

\---

The second time he hears Rodimus humming that same tune, he wisely keeps his mouth shut.

It was a miner's song, or at least written in the style of one. It was meant to be sung loudly and by many voices, to echo and be heard. Here and now, Rodimus sings it alone. Words that were meant to promise defiance and freedom instead carry just far enough to be deadened by the walls of an empty room.

Megatron has better things to do than linger and eavesdrop outside of doors. It still takes him far too long to pry himself away.

\---

In another lifetime, a newer lifetime, he hears Rodimus sing again. This time he's staring out at the stars, wistful. He hesitates over the words, hums them instead, startles when another voice joins in with the rest of the line.

The look Rodimus gives him when he turns around is enough to make Megatron falter. He resets his vocalizer and averts his gaze to the window, rather than continue to look at the complex pain clear on his co-Captain's face.

Eventually, Rodimus turns back to the window as well. Then, tentatively, he picks up the next verse.

Megatron joins him.

\---

"We sang it back in Nyon," Rodimus confesses, eyes still stubbornly fixed on the stars. It's nothing Megatron hadn't guessed long ago, but he still feels unbalanced by the trust it must take to say. "It felt like somebody out there _got_ it, you know? Dunno who picked it up first, but I always figured it was from a Decepticon recruiter, so I guess that's how you—"

Megatron sees the moment the realization hits him, the way his mouth falls open, the way the finger that's been quietly tapping out a nervous rhythm freezes mid-movement.

Rodimus drops his head against the window with a soft _tink,_ laughing, and Megatron can breathe again. "You fragger, did you _write_ it?"

He inclines his head, abruptly self-conscious. "I did."

"I hate this," Rodimus says, failing to hide his smile. "You're the worst. I can't believe you."

"My gravest apologies," he intones. "In the future, I'll endeavor to refrain from anything so heinous as _writing music—"_

"Shut _up,"_ Rodimus snickers, playfully smacking him in the arm. "This is a _nightmare,_ I don't know how I'm gonna live with myself—" Megatron cracks and starts to chuckle himself, which is _clearly_ a mistake, because it gives Rodimus a second wind, and then the both of them are completely helpless for a few long minutes.

\---

"It's a good song," Rodimus says. The edge of sorrow is back in his voice, starker and yet somehow diminished.

Megatron hesitates, still never quite sure what to make of having that earnestness turned on him. "You sing it well."

Rodimus ducks his head. "Thanks."

The silence stretches out between them, strange but not unwelcome. Megatron is content to let it be, and so is Rodimus, for a while.

"Okay, I _have_ to ask," he says eventually. "Did you write any of the _other_ songs I like? Because if you did, I think I deserve to know."

Megatron cracks a smile at his tone. "I imagine I'd need to hear them to be sure."

"I can't _believe_ you," Rodimus says, mock-exasperated, and then he closes his eyes and begins to sing.


End file.
